Walker defense fund paid nothing to lawyers last quarter

Amid much fanfare, Gov. Scott Walker set up a defense fund to allow him to use campaign cash to pay two high-profile criminal defense lawyers earlier this year.

Things have quieted down quite a bit since then.

Newly filed federal records show The Scott Walker Trust paid nothing to his two lawyers in the past three months. The first-term Republican governor also transferred no money from his campaign account to the defense fund between July 1 and Sept. 30.

"Governor Walker continues to cooperate with authorities as he has throughout this process," said Walker campaign spokesman Tom Evenson in a statement. He referred questions about the John Doe investigation to Milwaukee County prosecutors.

Walker's Milwaukee lawyer, Michael Steinle, was not immediately available for comment.

County prosecutors opened the secret public corruption investigation in May 2010. The probe has led to the convictions of a railroad executive for illegal campaign donations and a former Walker aide for doing campaign work on county time.

Kelly Rindfleisch, another former Walker aide, is scheduled to plead Thursday to a felony for misconduct in office. Walker had been subpoenaed to testify in that case, but Steinle had been planning to file a motion to quash the subpoena before the plea deal was reached.

Two other Walker officials have been charged as part of the John Doe investigation.

Despite hiring two defense lawyers, Walker says he has been told by his attorneys that he is not a target.

Earlier this year, he transferred $160,000 in campaign donations to the defense fund.

From that, the trust paid $115,000 to the Chicago law firm of Walker attorney John Gallo; $29,200 to the Steinle's firm; and $1,300 to the Madison law firm of Lind Weininger. It also doled out nearly $10,000 to APCO Worldwide, a public relations firm.

In addition, Walker's campaign has been represented by former U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic of Michael Best & Friedrich since November 2010. Records show the campaign has paid Michael Best a little more than $191,300 for "compliance" issues.

About Daniel Bice

Daniel Bice is a Watchdog columnist covering Wisconsin government and politics. His “No Quarter” column has won a National Headliner Award for best local interest column.